Both overrides pass; Markey is Marblehead's man for Senate

Wednesday

Jun 26, 2013 at 12:01 AMJun 26, 2013 at 6:55 AM

Marblehead voters approved a pair of overrides of Proposition 2 1/2 in a special town election held in conjunction with the statewide election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry.

William J. Dowd / wdowd@wickedlocal.com

Marblehead voters approved a pair of overrides of Proposition 2 1/2 in a special town election held in conjunction with the statewide election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Voters overwhelmingly supported the first override question to fund $2.466 million in repairs and restoration to the clock tower at Abbot Hall by a more than two-to-one margin, 3,888 to 1,617 the unofficial tally.

The vote on the $1.165 million cost to remediate and restore property on Green Street as part of the landfill closure and transfer station construction project passed by a narrower margin, 3,186 to 2,235, also unofficial numbers.

Abbot Hall’s debt-exclusion override culminates many months of investigation and dissemination of information by town officials.

“I’m very grateful to the voters of Marblehead for seeing that this was a worthy project and allowing us to go forward with it,” said Selectman Jackie Belf-Becker Tuesday night.

She further thanked voters for “recognizing that this project was of merit,” a sentiment shared by Selectman Judy Jacobi, who waited outside the Town Clerk’s office with her husband, Gene, for over 30 minutes for results, inside Abbot Hall.

Notably exhausted from the long day, which started at 3:30 a.m., Town Clerk Robin Michaud said, “Everybody did a good job despite the heat wave. Things went smoothly thanks to all the people and their extra help at the polls.”